Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to electrical devices. More particularly, the invention is directed to circuit breakers and other electrical devices that connect to power sources via wires which must be engaged with the circuit breaker or electrical device. Specifically, this invention is directed to a connector assembly that permits wires to be readily secured in the circuit breaker or electrical device without the use of screws and which permits insertion of a tool through a release port in a front face of the circuit breaker or electrical device for quick and easy disengagement of a secured wire.
Background Information
There are many types of electrical devices that require an electrical connection to wiring carrying 110V, 220V and up to 600V alternating current (AC) in homes and commercial buildings. Many of these electrical devices have screw-type terminals to attach the wires to the device. These electrical devices may include outlets, light switches and circuit breakers that may be installed in a building's electrical panel. The screw-type terminals require that the screw of the terminal be loosened, a stripped end of a wire be wrapped around the screw's shaft, and then the screw be tightened to lock the wire to the terminal. Some of the issues with this type of connection are that it may be difficult to get good electrical contact between the terminal and the wire and that there is a tendency for wire to pull away from the terminal when the device is handled.
This issue has been somewhat addressed in other electrical devices, such as wall outlets and switches, by providing connectors that do not require a screw and are therefore not as cumbersome or time consuming to use. In these particular instances, the electrical device may be connected quite rapidly to a pre-stripped wire of solid and stranded gauges ranging from 14 gauge to 12 gauge or 10 gauge. The type of connection may include two conducting components, namely a spring-steel metal contact and an opposed fixed metal contact. The spring-steel contact is able to move toward and away from the fixed contact. The wire to be connected to the device is inserted through a hole in the device's housing and the wire tends to slightly bend the spring metal contact so that the inserted wire is secured between these two conducting components. The spring-steel contact may be bent and shaped so that the angle of the spring-steel contact relative to the opposing fixed contact is less than 90 degrees. This configuration allows the inserted wire to push the spring metal contact back and away from the fixed contact to open up a space for the inserted wire. The configuration also ensures a removal force that is applied will tend to cause the spring-steel contact to tighten its grip on the wire. This arrangement ensures that the inserted wire may not be accidentally or easily dislodged or removed from the electrical device. Consequently, once the wire is inserted between the spring-steel contact and the fixed contact, the wire may not be able to be removed therefrom. If it is necessary to disengage the wire from the electrical device then the wire must be cut to remove the outlet or switch. Because the wire's end remains secured in the electrical device, the device has to be thrown out and must be replaced with another electrical device. This course of action may be acceptable when the outlet or switch is a $1.00 wall outlet but it is far less acceptable when the electrical device is a $40 to $50 circuit breaker, particularly since this type of rewiring often has to occur when servicing an electrical device such as an electrical distribution box or panel.
To address the need to throw away electrical devices such as circuit breakers because a section of wire is secured therein, screwless circuit breakers have been proposed in the art. Such screwless electrical device may have a wire-release ports where a screwdriver or similar tool may be inserted into a slot or hole to release a secured wire. The screwdriver is used to push linearly on a plastic, non-conducting part of the circuit breaker. The linear movement of the plastic part tends to open the metal spring contact slightly so that the previously secured wire may be removed. There is, however, a considerable safety issue with this type of circuit breaker or electrical device because the metal spring-steel contact carries 110V, 220V or 600V AC. If the user accidentally touches the live spring-steel contact they may be accidentally electrocuted.
In other circuit breakers, in order to access provided breaker release ports, the circuit breaker must be completely removed from the electrical panel or machinery in order to access the release port. This makes the removal of the wire from the circuit breaker a time consuming and therefore money consuming task. Still further, other circuit breakers have wire-release systems that have complex multiple-part release systems. These systems are more complicated and expensive to fabricate and may be more prone to failure.